Working as a translator for South Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs between college and law school was a formative experience for Dohyun Kim, the Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP M&A partner said on this week’s Drinks With The Deal podcast.
After graduating from Ewha Womans University in Seoul in 2006, she worked as a translator in negotiations over a free trade agreement in the automotive sector with the U.S. “Being a translator, you’re always on,” said Kim, who goes by Do. “You’re always listening, you can’t miss anything, and you have to know each party’s positions inside out” to translate effectively.
“I loved the adrenaline of being in negotiations, and I loved the parties coming together to create this agreement that was going to govern the relationship for many, many years,” Kim said. “That experience was very helpful to me in finding my path to being an M&A lawyer.”
Kim enjoyed her M&A assignments as a summer associate in Skadden’s New York office and was drawn to the practice in part because of its similarities to the trade negotiations. She became a partner at Skadden at the start of the pandemic in April 2020 and worked on one of that year’s most prominent deals, helping to advise LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE on its $16 billion purchase of Tiffany & Co.
Check out the podcast with Do Kim below:
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